The memogate controversy (also Mullen memo controversy) revolves around a memorandum (addressed to Admiral Mike Mullen) ostensibly seeking help of the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

in the wake of the Osama bin Laden raid to avert a military takeover of the civilian government in Pakistan, as well as assisting in a civilian takeover of the government and military apparatus. The memo was delivered in May 2011; Mansoor Ijaz wrote a ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' article in October 2011 bringing initial public attention to the affair. The memo, which at first was questioned to even exist, was published in November, leading to the resignation of Ambassador Haqqani and the continuing Pakistani Supreme Court investigation. Central actors in the plot include

Pakistani-American Pakistani Americans ( ur, ) are Americans who originate from Pakistan. The term may also refer to people who also hold a dual Pakistani and U.S. citizenship. Educational attainment level and household income are much higher in the Pakistani-Am ...

businessman

Mansoor Ijaz Mansoor Ijaz (born August 1961) is a Pakistani-American venture financier and hedge-fund manager. He is founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management Ltd, a New York and London-based investment firm that operates ''CARAT'', a proprietar ...

, who alleged that long-time friend and former

Pakistan Ambassador to the United States The Pakistan Ambassador to the United States is in charge of the Pakistan Embassy, Washington, D.C. and Pakistan's diplomatic mission to the United States. The official title is Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the United Stat ...

Husain Haqqani Husain Haqqani (; born 1 July 1956, alternately spelled Hussain Haqqani) is a Pakistani journalist, academic, political activist, and former ambassador of Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the United States. Haqqani has written four books on Pakistan, ...

asked him to deliver a confidential memo asking for US assistance. The memo is alleged to have been drafted by Haqqani at the behest of

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakistan ...

. The memo was delivered to Mike Mullen through then

National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

James L. Jones James Logan Jones Jr. (born December 19, 1943) is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general and consultant who served as the 21st United States National Security Advisor from 2009 to 2010. During his military career, he served as th ...

. The

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate a ...

has opened a broader inquiry into the origins, credibility and purpose of the memo. On 19 April 2012 a petition was submitted in the Supreme Court to arrest former Pakistan ambassador to US Husain Haqqani through

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

for his refusal to return to Pakistan. On 12 June the supreme court commission released its findings and found that after testimony by all parties and verifying the forensic results of Ijaz's

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

conversations with Haqqani it was "incontrovertibly established" that

had written the memo and was being called back to Pakistan to face likely charges of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

Background and timeline

The US-Pakistan relationship was seemingly at an all-time low before the assault on

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

's compound in

Abbottabad Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and fourth ...

on 2 May 2011. Civilians and the media blamed the Pakistani armed forces for being unable to locate bin Laden's whereabouts and further criticised them for letting the United States conduct a unilateral operation on Pakistani soil, thereby prompting a furore over violation of Pakistani sovereignty by the United States. The raid on Bin Laden put the civilian government and military officials

at loggerheads AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...

. A meeting of the president, prime minister and the chief of army staff was called to discuss the issue in detail. The memorandum in question was allegedly written less than two days after the meeting was called, and a few days after the raid on the bin Laden compound. The memo presented concerns that Pakistani military outfits might attempt to overthrow the civilian government in the wake of the Bin Laden raid. To counteract these concerns the memo asks for US military and political help in wresting control of the government away from the military in what amounted to a counter-coup. It then goes on to make other offers favourable to the United States including: setting up tribunals with investigators picked by Washington to put the leaders of the military on trial, the creation of a new security apparatus consisting of the authors of the memo and others favourable to Washington, and "carte blanche" for the US military in conducting strikes within Pakistan.

Drafting the memo

According to messages leaked online from

, Ambassador

sent him a BlackBerry message on 9 May 2011, asking him to return a call to London, where the ambassador was residing at the Park Lane Intercontinental Hotel. The message further asked him to deliver a prompt proposal, initially verbally, for assistance to Admiral Mike Mullen. Ijaz, whose BlackBerry exchanges with Haqqani indicate he was in Monaco at the time, claims Haqqani then dictated the contents of what was to be relayed verbally in that first telephone call, lasting approximately 20 minutes, according to Ijaz's telephone records. Ijaz has further stated that his US interlocutors each insisted on a written memorandum because of consistent problems in the recent past with Pakistani officials making verbal offers that later, were not honoured. Ijaz then drafted, on the basis of Haqqani's instructions, the memorandum in question and confirmed the contents by telephone and over numerous

BlackBerry Messenger BBM, also known by its full name BlackBerry Messenger, was a proprietary mobile instant messenger and videotelephony application included on BlackBerry devices that allows messaging and voice calls between BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, iOS, Andr ...

conversations with the Pakistani ambassador. The following morning, Ijaz emailed a copy of the memo draft to the ambassador for proofreading and asked for assurances that the memo had the approval of the

president of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Shortly after a meeting with British delegates at

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...

, Haqqani read the proof for the final proposal and asked for it to be delivered immediately to Mullen through a US interlocutor, later named as

, former NATO commander and US national security adviser to President Barack Obama. Prior to delivering the memorandum, Ijaz made clear that his military go between, Jones, the man who would deliver the memorandum to Mullen, required assurances that the document had clearance from the highest office in Pakistan, upon which Haqqani allegedly responded by telephone "he had the boss' approval".

Contents of the memo

Content of the confidential memo were published in its entirety on ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'' magazine's website on 17 November. The memo was addressed to Michael Mullen, and requested the

to convey a "strong, urgent and direct message to General Kayani and General Pasha" to "end their brinkmanship aimed at bringing down the civilian apparatus". The memo then makes certain explicit offers to the United States government in exchange for its support. These include the following quoted directly from the memo:

Ijaz's claims in ''The Financial Times''

On 10 October 2011, Ijaz wrote a column in the ''

'' revealing and confirming that he had helped deliver to Admiral Mullen a memorandum drafted by a Pakistani official stationed in the United States at the behest of President Zardari. The op-ed did not explicitly name Haqqani as being the author of the memo. This disclosure fuelled a frenzy in the Pakistani media while American press has largely remained silent in regards to any official US support of the plan. The affair became the buzz of front pages in Pakistan when Mullen admitted after previous denials that he had received the confidential memorandum soon after the raid on the bin Laden compound. Local media speculated as to the identity of the memo's author.

Admiral Mullen's statement

When asked whether he received the memo in May, Admiral

Mullen Mullen is a surname of Irish and Scottish origin. Notable people with the surname include: * Alex Mullen (born 1992), Australian professional footballer *Andrew Mullen (born 1996), British Paralympian swimmer *Ann A. Mullen (1935–1994), Ameri ...

said he had no knowledge of the memo but later changed his statement, saying he knew of the memo but "thought nothing of it." Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby stated in a press briefing that Mullen "does not know" and had "never communicated with Mr Ijaz". Ostensibly the memo reached Mullen without any government seal or signature. Kirby suggested that "nothing about the letter had the

imprimatur An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...

on the Pakistani government" and thus Mullen never acted on it. This initially led to debates in the Pakistani media as to the authenticity and credibility of the memorandum and has grown now to the resignation of Haqqani and a full investigation by the Pakistani supreme court. A news report in the Pakistani press analysing the origins of the Mullen denial stated that the Mullen denial "was said to be the consequence of Husain Haqqani's persuasion, as the former ambassador had intimated about this well before Mullen's first reaction". The timeline of released Blackberry messages, the Financial Times article by Ijaz in October, and phone records released during the Supreme Court investigation all indicate that communication and possible action supporting a coup in Pakistan continued long after the offer was made in May 2011.

Speculations about Haqqani's involvement

In a rally at

Minar-e-Pakistan Minar E Pakistan ( ur, , literally "Tower of Pakistan") is a tower located in Lahore, Pakistan. The tower was built between 1960 and 1968 on the site where the All-India Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution (which was later called the Pak ...

in Lahore on 30 October 2011,

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...

chairman

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

accused Haqqani of involvement in the Mullen memo. It wasn't until later that Ijaz officially acknowledged Haqqani's involvement in public. The preemptive revelation by Khan led many journalists and media personalities, including television host

Sana Bucha Sana Bucha is a Pakistani news anchor, who appears in prime time news talk shows. She is known for hosting a show named ''Lekin''. Early life and education Sana Bucha received her basic education at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Karachi Schoo ...

, to ask if the military establishment had been sponsoring PTI campaigns. Muhammad Malick, a senior correspondent with

GEO News Geo News is a Rank Number 1 Pakistani news channel owned by the Jang Media Group. History The Geo Television Network started out with the launch of its flagship channel Geo TV in October 2002 but has since launched several other channels whic ...

, later told anchorperson

Hamid Mir Hamid Mir ( ur, حامد میر; born 23 July 1966) is a Pakistani journalist, columnist and writer. Born in Lahore to a journalistic family, Mir initially worked as a journalist with Pakistani newspapers. He has hosted the political talk show ' ...

that he had briefed Khan about Haqqani, moments before Khan's speech at the rally. On 17 November 2011, the contents of the memorandum were made public on the ''

'' website and later in a local Pakistani newspaper, escalating rapidly to a scandal amongst the local media. Local media pundits debated the claims that the Pakistani president could be involved in a back-channel deal with the US to bring down the top leadership of Pakistan's military and install a new security team hand picked by Washington.

Haqqani's Recall and Resignation

In the wake of the release of the memo's contents Ambassador Haqqani was recalled from Washington to Pakistan. On 22 November 2011, an official meeting took place at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad between President

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakistan ...

, Prime Minister

Yousaf Raza Gillani Yusuf Raza Gilani (Urdu: ; born 9 June 1952), is a Pakistani politician who served as 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 25 March 2008, until his retroactive disqualification and ouster by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 26 April 2012. He ...

, Chief of Army Staff

Ashfaq Parvez Kayani General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani (Urdu: ; born 20 April 1952), is a retired four-star general of the Pakistan Army who served as the 8th Chief of Army Staff , being appointed on 29 November 2007 after his predecessor Pervez Musharraf retired from ...

, Director General of ISI Ahmad Shuja Pasha, and Ambassador Haqqani. This meeting over the affairs of the memorandum was watched closely as many felt that the fallout could continue to claim victims, while in the press rumours of coups and actions by the military continued. Soon after, Haqqani tendered his resignation, which was accepted by the prime minister. To the media outlets and the general public in Pakistan, this came as no surprise, but was rather the expected outcome of the planned meeting.

Revelations in ''Newsweek''

The Pakistani media discussed the fallout of the revelation of the memo's existence. ''

Newsweek Pakistan ''Newsweek'' Pakistan is published by AG Publications, a company wholly owned by Associated Group (AG), under license from Newsweek LLC. The licensing agreement with AG Publications follows similar publishing alliances for ''Newsweek'' editions. ...

'' published in its 2 December 2011 issue (published online Friday, 25 November) a limited account of the Memogate affair, as it was dubbed by the Pakistani press. The article gave a brief account of some of the events leading up to the controversy and explored the possible motivations and background of both Ijaz and Haqqani.

Official responses

Government of Pakistan

* The

dismissed the allegations, saying Pakistan was not so fragile a country that it could be rattled by the writing of a memo and declaring that "the Supreme Court has nothing to do with this matter." * President

termed the allegations as "a conspiracy against the Zardari government", further stating that he did not need intermediaries to convey messages since he had "direct access" to the president of the United States. *

Farahnaz Ispahani Farahnaz Ispahani () is a Pakistani-American writer and former politician who served as member of the National Assembly of Pakistan between 2008 and 2012. She is a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute and a member of the Anti-Defam ...

, wife of ambassador Haqqani and member of the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

denied the ambassador was the author of the Mullen memo or that he had sent the memo over to Mansoor. *

refuted the BlackBerry Messenger email chain that was made public by

stating that the message were likely a forgery. In the aftermath of the scandal Haqqani was recalled from Washington, placed under house arrest, and resigned from his position as Pakistani ambassador to the US. After returning home to Pakistan, and meeting with the president, prime minister, chief of army staff, and the DG ISI, he tendered his resignation which was immediately accepted by the PM.

Opposition in Pakistan

* Pakistani politicians have turned the scandal into a major political issue, accusing Ambassador Haqqani, President Zardari, and others in Pakistani government of compromising Pakistan's sovereignty, overstepping their powers by commanding the military to stand down, and conspiring against the Armed Forces of Pakistan. * At a major political rally,

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Teh ...

leader and former prime minister

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

, demanded an "urgent" inquiry into the matter. He also threatened to petition the

, and resign from the National Assembly if the Zardari government did not satisfactorily investigate the matter.

United States Government

* While several people presently and formerly associated with the US Government have acknowledged the existence of the memo, the

has discussed the controversy in the public eye. * When asked about the matter, US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon stated "I don't have a way to comment from this distance. I just don't have a way to comment on that from this distance at this point", while insisting that the United States and Pakistan shared a "critically important" relationship. * Similarly, at a daily press briefing on 18 November 2011, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson

Mark Toner Mark Christopher Toner (born 1964) is a U.S. Foreign Service Officer and former Spokesperson for the United States Department of State. Early life and education Toner was raised in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, graduating from the Salesianum Sc ...

stated "this is – I understand this is a big story in Pakistan. It's partly a domestic story. We – and we'll all treat it as such. I mean, our – we remain in contact with Ambassador Haqqani". * Admiral Mike Mullen's former spokesman, captain John Kirby, acknowledged the existence of the memo, but clarified that "neither the contents of the memo nor the proof of its existence altered or affected in any way the manner in which Admiral Mullen conducted himself in his relationship with General Kayani and the Pakistani government. He took no note of it". Later, Kirby also stated that Admiral Mullen was confident the memo did not originate from President Zardari. * In an email to Pakistani media, former

acknowledged that he personally delivered the memo to Admiral Mullen, but clarified that he was not a serving government official at the time he forwarded the message.

Pakistani media responses

The Pakistani media has been largely split along lines of support and opposition for the current government, with narratives and coverage of the event varying wildly. The Pakistani paper ''The News'' created a web page dedicated to daily updates of the investigation and regularly used the term 'treasonous' in reference to the memo's contents and intentions of those involved. While

Cyril Almeida Cyril Almeida(Urdu: سائیرل المیڈا) is a Pakistani journalist who served as the assistant editor and columnist for ''Dawn''. Born and raised in Karachi, Almeida received his B.A from LUMS and studied jurisprudence as a Rhodes Scho ...

argued in January: "What we're seeing right now is farcical. A national political crisis has been engineered on the basis of an unsigned memo, the contents of which are exceedingly unrealistic but have somehow compromised national security."

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

editorialised that, "If the claims at the heart of what the Pakistani media call "Memogate" are false, Mr. Haqqani has been defamed. If they're true, he's a patriot."